An introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.

Eight Grade is a US film aimed at 8th graders but its 8th grade strong language has resulted in it being rated R by the MPAA. The R rating means that with graders cannot see the film at theatres unless accompanied by their parents.

The film makers from A24 Studio are not impressed by their target audience being disallowed so organised nationwide screenings where the R rating was not enforced (age restrictions are legally voluntary n the US). 50 no-rating-enforced screenings were organised on August 8. The studio partnered with one theater in every state across America for the screenings.

But US moralist campaigners were not happy. The Parents Television Council called on the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to hold the A24 Studio accountable for those under 17s admitted without a parent. PTC President Tim Winter whinged:

Subjective declarations such as the one by A24 — that some content is ‘too important’ to be labeled in accordance with the standards set forth by the MPAA and understood, trusted and relied upon by parents — undermine and negate the entire purpose of having the content rating system in the first place. In this instance, and based upon empirical data of this film’s content, the Hollywood studio at issue here is grotesquely and irresponsibly usurping parental authority. Either the standard means something or it means nothing. Those who are openly violating both the spirit and the letter of the age-based content ratings system for this publicity stunt should be held to account by the MPAA.

Fuad Ramses and his family have moved from the United States to France, where they run an American diner. Since business is not going too well, Fuad also works night shifts in a museum of ancient Egyptian culture. During these long, lonely nights he is repeatedly drawn to a statue representing the seductive ancient goddess ISHTAR. He becomes more and more allured by the goddess as she speaks to him in visions.

The Blood Feast remake is struggling to get an R rating from the MPAA. The producers have now submitted the film 3 times presumably with ever increasing cuts but the MPAA is still refusing an R rating.

Director Marcel Walz told DreadCentral:

Big, big mess at the MPAA… for the third time Blood Feast didn’t pass the MPAA screening. It’s horrible. I think the horror fans need to know what’s going on. We need an MPAA rating to make Blood Feast available to all main markets in North America. A friend made a petition , and any support will be appreciated.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has opposed draft revenge porn legislation that is being considered in Minnesota. The MPAA said the Minnesota draft law could restrict the publication of items of legitimate news, commentary, and historical interest .Revenge porn refers to the sharing of intimate images after the end of a relationship, but the definition is being ‘stretched’ a broader sense to describe any publication of explicit images without consent, for example when private photographs of a celebrity are leaked online.

Opponents of revenge porn legislation have argued that some of the new laws are too broad in scope, and that existing copyright, communication and harassment laws sufficiently cover the subject. ‘Intent to harass’

The MPAA, which represents six major Hollywood film studios, said the Minnesota law could limit the distribution of a wide array of mainstream, constitutionally protected material . It cited images of Holocaust victims and prisoners at Abu Ghraib as examples of images depicting nudity which are shared without the subjects’ consent.

The MPAA called for the legislation to clarify that images shared without consent only broke the law if they were shared with an intent to harass . In a statement, the organisation said:

The MPAA opposes online harassment in all forms. While we agree with the aims… we are concerned that the current version of the bill is written so broadly that it could have a chilling effect on mainstream and constitutionally-protected speech.

Michael Moore’s latest film, Where To Invade Next , is a documentary journey across the globe to borrow traits from different countries for America to use.Cinema chain Alamo Drafthouse, with cinemas in 13 states, has decided to relax its R-rating policy for the film. CEO Tim League said in a statement that the company can’t believe the film was ever rated R in the first place:

For the first time ever, we are relaxing our 18-and-up age policy for one film. Why? We simply don’t believe Where to Invade Next should have received an R rating from the MPAA. We don’t want that rating and our own age policies to get in the way of teens and their parents seeing this film. So, for the run of the Where to Invade Next we will allow teens age 15 and up on their own…yes, it’s that important.

Tim League, who is also one of the distributors for Where To Invade Next, insisted that this decision wasn’t about selling tickets. Instead, it’s about making sure that young American voters get to see the film’s message.

Michael Moore had previously gone above and beyond in his attempt to get Where To Invade Next’s R-rating rescinded. He wanted it to receive a PG-13 so that it had a better chance to succeed at the box office. However, last year, he lost his appeal after he refused to make any cuts to the film, which the MPAA decreed were necessary.

The MPAA decided to provide Where To Invade Next with an R-rating because of its use of language, some violent images, drug use and brief graphic nudity. But Tim League decided to elaborate on these offences, revealing that Where To Invade Next includes some use of swear words, students enjoying free college education, children eating healthy food in school, Italians on holiday, bloody violence in American prisons, and a naked German man leaving a hot tub.

Deadpool has been rated R by the US film censors at the MPAA. Now there is little hype suggesting that the once scene in the film had to be toned down to achieve that R rating.

The director Time Miller recently held a Q&A session at a Los Angeles fan event where he offered some details on some of the things they had to cut. One particular fight has an extended version with a couple more beats of violence that I liked, but the biggest scene they had to pare down was a bar scene. he explained:

In particular, there was a bar scene that was too vulgar for even the R-rated Deadpool . That bar scene was particularly mean and offensive to a lot of people because T.J. [Miller] and Ryan [Reynolds] got together and wrote a version of the scene that we just said, ‘Oh my God, this is too far.’ I mean there were so many people offended, it would have really been – we couldn’t do it. It was just mean and so I said, ‘No. We don’t have to do that.’

The director added that fans shouldn’t expect the full version of this scene to show up on the impending Blu-ray and DVD release. T.J. Miller added that they did get carried away with this offensive stretch of dialogue and said:

We did kind of go back and forth and it just got more and more hateful. Ryan’s a very, very good improvisor, and he’s very funny and, like, one of the sweetest guys. It was very… heavy duty. There were some riffs that I don’t think – ‘You look like a trucker took a shit on your shoulders and then shaped ears onto it.’ So it’s like, we’re missing some of those things.

Director T.J. Miller revealed that there would be a Deadpool director’s cut to be released this year, which would even be more raw than what fans will see onscreen in the current US R rated/UK 15 rated theatrical version. Miller commented:

[The Director’s Cut’s] going to be even more raw, that’s pretty heavy duty.

I had the opportunity to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition during the special Fathom Events screening that was held nationwide last night, and while I can honestly say that I enjoyed the experience, it also left me scratching my head.

With a running time of 164 minutes, the movie is 20 minutes longer than its theatrical predecessor, and as you might have guessed considering the original cut is 75% war scene, much of the additional footage is battle-related. This includes dwarves charging into battles against orcs, wargs, and various other kinds of monsters with all kinds of weapons, including a ram-driven sled featuring scythe-covered wheels and a crank-operated arrow launcher.

As enemies are taken down, small splashes of black blood occasionally appear, and I’ll admit that some of the deaths do rank on the gnarly scale, but the idea that it actually crosses any kind of line from PG-13 to R is entirely ridiculous. The change truly suggests that the line between ratings is so thin that it might as well not even bother existing, and paints a perfect picture of the entire methodology’s arbitrary nature.